Featuring color photos of handmade paper houses, Set in Place is a visual exploration of the house as object and symbol. After photographing Arkansas homes, churches, stores, community buildings, and other vernacular structures for years, Schmidt began to rethink the relationship between humans and built space. As the most fundamental of such spaces, a house provides shelter and a home. There is unlimited variety in the design of houses, but they all share basic visual and functional elements. The miniature paper houses in the exhibition highlight these familiar features. Their shape reflects the most recognizable way humans build shelter: a cube with a pitched roof attached. Schmidt places the miniatures in environments that carry historical or emotional meaning. Some of the houses seem protected by their environment, others are isolated and even damaged. Most are photographed using only natural light. Viewers are invited to let the photos remind them of real or imagined places they know and to respond with their own thoughts on place, home, and belonging.

Schmidt is an award-winning photographer, writer, and translator from Wiesbaden, Germany, and now resides in Fayetteville.

The series consists of 18 color photos with text panels describing the project. Presentations, lectures, and workshops can be readily incorporated into the exhibition.